SOFO Museum online talk to reveal Great War story of Winnie-the-Pooh illustrator E.H. Shepard
• E. H. Shepard, famous for his Winnie-the-Pooh and Wind in the Willows illustrations saw service on the Western Front and in Italy during the Great War – he was even awarded for gallantry.
• An online talk followed by live Q&A session with speaker James Campbell at 7pm, Tuesday 14th September 2021
• Shepard’s Great War sketches and humorous illustrations will feature in the talk throughout.
• No ticketing or registration to view, but donations to support the museum are encouraged.
Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum (SOFO) will hold an online talk and live Q&A session through their website on Tuesday 14th September 2021.
Ernest Shepard is best known for delighting generations of children with his charming illustrations for A. A Milne’s Winnie the Pooh and later editions of Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows in the 1930s.
Before he found the height of his fame bringing Pooh, Piglet and Tigger to life, he used his artistic talent to document his time in the trenches during the First World War through a series of humorous caricatures and detailed sketches.
James Campbell explores the life and Great War experiences of E. H. Shepard in this talk, illustrated with sketches and drawings from the artist’s early career as a cartoonist right through his military service as an artillery officer on the Western and Italian Fronts.
Discover how Shepard was recruited by the Intelligence Corps because of skills, and how he would be awarded the Military Cross and a mention in dispatches for gallantry in the field.
Like previous online talks hosted by the museum, no pre-registration or digital tickets are needed to watch the talk – but viewers are encouraged to donate to support Oxfordshire’s only dedicated military museum. Donations allow SOFO to tell more stories through events like this, as well as supporting the museum’s work in preserving and presenting the county’s military heritage and the history of all those affected by conflict in the region, soldier or civilian
Watch the talk at:
www.sofo.org.uk/whats-on/
ENDS
Notes to Editors
About the Soldiers of Oxfordshire (SOFO) Museum:
Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum, Park Street, Woodstock, OX20 1SN
www.sofo.org.uk
frontofhouse@sofo.org.uk
01993 810 210
SOFO Museum first opened during the summer of 2014, tucked away in the beautiful gardens in the grounds of The Oxfordshire Museum and Woodstock Library, and just on the doorstep of Blenheim Palace.
More than a local military museum, SOFO is a museum that everyone can enjoy, from kids to parents and grandparents. We tell stories of how conflict has affected the county and its people, from soldiers serving on the front lines to ordinary people living on the Home Front.
On top of a range of ever-changing displays and events, our permanent exhibits explore topics that you’ll find surprising and moving in equal measure, such as raw accounts of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen from both camp survivors and Oxfordshire soldiers.
Battles of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry puts you on-board a Horsa Glider as it prepares to land in Normandy in the early hours of D-Day 1944, while Secret War explores the world of spies and espionage and lets you try your hand at sending and decoding secret messages.
SOFO holds a collection of over 3,500 objects and 7,500 archive items from two county regiments, the Queens Own Oxfordshire Hussars (QOOH) and the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. These are our starting point for reflecting on the county’s rich and diverse military heritage.
About James Campbell:
James Campbell has worked for a number of sustainability and environmental organisations for over twenty years. He is married to E. H. Shepard’s great-granddaughter and has had responsibility for the oversight of E. H. Shepard’s artistic and literary estate since 2010. He currently lives in Oxford.
